Jacqueline C. Rineer

Category Archives: Adventures in Philly

This post has been a loooong time coming. I went to The Franklin Institute back in March with Tristan, his little brother and some friends from church. It was my first time going, ever.

Being the nerd that I am I really enjoyed myself although I was a little disappointed that it was so kid oriented (and it was a Saturday so they were everywhere) =/ *sigh* When I have little “critters” of my own this sort of things will be so much more fun…

Anyway here are some highlights from that adventure. Forgive the bad quality, I only had my phone…I really need to remember to bring my good camera places.

Pointless, sinister looking machine :D
The pendulum is probably one of the coolest things in the museum. It swings with the rotation of the earth and knocks down all the little domino things surrounding it every 24 hrs. (one revolution).
But this was the most fun thing. Playing with momentum. Watch the video on my FB here.

I’m so glad to see April 2012 go. This month was full of craziness. For the end of the month everything happened at once; my best friend from SC was in town and so were my parents and last week was pretty much a full week of work for me (which is unusual).

[1] This past weekend my best[est] friend from SC was in town with her mom and fiancé. We started off her visit my doing dinner at a Moroccan place called Fez on 2nd in Philly. It was delicious! That surprised me because I had had Moroccan food before and wasn’t a fan; but this was good! Our favorite part was definitely the belly dancer. I LOVE watching people do what they do. I think it’s cool to see how they do things, like dance and the way they move. It’s an artist thing lol She even invited us to get up and dance with her! Which, of course, we did :)

I wish I had better pictures! My bestie took some good ones. Perhaps she will let me post some when they make it to FB.

[2] The next day she wanted to go touring around parts of Philly with me. So naturally, I took everyone via subway to the Reading Terminal to walk though, smell all the wonderful food and eat crêpes. We spent a good potion of the day there. I was in no rush; I think they liked it.

This trip made me want to live in the city so I could do my shoppnig there. Maybe someday *sigh*.

Afterward, we walked down Market St. and did a [tiny] bit of shopping until about 5pm. I so wish we’d had more time together, but she’ll be back :D

[3] My baby Gizmo turned 3 years old last weekend! I love this cat. Here he is enjoying the beautiful weather we’ve been having.

[4] This is not a recent pic, however, I remember when I took it after the Flower Show last month. I thought of it again for this post because I have learned so much about LOVE this past week! Love in the form of protection, divine intervention and answered prayers.

There are seasons in my life where God just teaches me things, even if I’ve already learned them – because in my fallen-ness, I forget. I forget what He can do. I forget the authority He has. I forget what He’s given to me and who He’s brought into my life; so every so often, I’m glad He reminds me. What a great Father, Teacher and Friend!

I’m really filling the love this week, and every time I feel His love it’s always fresh and new.

Spring has pretty much sprung here in Philly and it’s beautiful! I love to watch all the trees and flowers bloom.

As of March 11th, I have lived here a whole year! And it makes me so happy knowing that I will see our dramatic, colorful spring happen every year :D

Speaking of flowers, I attended my first Flower Show last week downtown at the convention center. It was fun! I got to get in for free because I volunteered at the afternoon tea that they have every year; I’ll be doing it next year too! Anyway, this year’s theme was Hawaii. I’m not the biggest fan of orchids and tropical plants, however. My favorite plants from the show were being sold by vendors (both local and from Hawaii).

Air plants in globes =D

I wanted one of these so bad!! I’m definitely getting one when I get a place of my own. So cute!! All they need is sun and air, sadly I’m lacking in the sun department right now =/

Also THESE.

Broaches made from preserved orchids.

Preserved flowers in pendents and earrings.

I successfully resisted the urge to buy any of this stuff. Instead, I ended up getting Tristan and I a bottle of Zinfandel and a bottle of red wine for me (he doesn’t like red very much).

YUM!

This pic (above) I took in the morning when I got there before the wine started being sold. After I got done in the tea room, I headed straight over to the wine; there were tastings going on!

Another thing I really enjoyed: Hawaiian music and dancing.

I ended up leaving the show at about 3pm. But I didn’t want to hop on the subway home right away so I walked a few blocks over to chill in love park.

It’s a little late for a 2011 recap, but like I said in my previous post, I’ve written some notes on Facebook that fill in a lot of 2011, or at least the parts that I wanted to write about. I want to give you my current update, for you guys who are and have been following my journey from growing up in a small town in SC to becoming a city girl in and around Philadelphia.

The theme of 2011 for me was “adjustment” and also “humility”; Two things that were difficult and that I have yet to master.

In November of 2010, my husband and I were [not] not surprised to learn that the house we had been renting since that summer was about to be lost to us and that we would have to leave. Just months later we had made plans to move to Savannah, GA but when the offer fell through, we found ourselves crammed in my old bedroom at my parents’ house, all of our things in storage, waiting to be moved into a house that we couldn’t move into after all (read about that here).

When we decided to move back to PA in March of 2011. It was a risk that we decided to take because we could do it at a moment’s notice. So we did. However, the 800 mile move was quite a blow financially and we had no idea how the change was going to turn out, but thanks to my mother-in-law we had a place to live until be got back on our feet. Enter “adjustment” number one [besides the obvious culture shock]: our new place to live happens to be a basement with only 400 sq. ft. of usable space. Our previous home was a grand total of 2400 sq. ft. But that wasn’t the only adjustment I had to make. My basement has no working bathroom and no kitchen area. I’m only thankful that I don’t have to leave the house for the kitchen or bathroom, but I do have to walk up and down the stairs a lot. Pehaps later I’ll post some pictures so you all can see where I’ve been crashing.

Difficulties aside, I LOVE Philadelphia. You can read here and here about 2011’s adventures.

So here’s the my current update:

The hubby and I are finally seeing business pick up. We were pleasantly surprised at our income for the month of January (yay!!) and we’ve made some improvements in the basement to make things more comfortable. Since we’ve been here for a year (almost), I decided that it was time to trust that I was in the right place and the right time so I settled down and made it work; after I got over not having my own everything lol. (WHOLE other story)

Monday night, I went downtown to my first Girl Geek Dinner. It was so nice to get out and mingle with my own kind =) There were a bunch of geeky ladies there in numerous tech professions. I can’t wait for the next one. This year, I’m really trying a new approach to marketing. I just want to meet people. After four years, I have learned that the real goal of marketing is to built relationships and be real with people – business follows.

In this past year I have really learned a lot and a lot has happened. 2012 has been good to me this far. I’m looking forward to the rest. I’ll post more specifically about things I’m learning and doing in separate posts.

On the 7th of this month I’m flying down to SC for my sister’s tech school graduation and to see her off to South Korea where she will serve in the Army as a mechanic. I’ll be there for a week and then I’ll be flying back to Philly. I can’t wait to see my other kitties and my little sis and my friends. Exciting but I’ll bet I miss Philly while I’m there =D (Read the about page for more)